Martin Winter (mayor)

Martin Winter
Mayor of Doncaster
Preceded by	New Office
Personal details
Political party	Independent/Unaffiliated
Website	www.doncaster.gov.uk

Martin Winter is the current mayor of Doncaster, England. He is an Independent. He became the first elected mayor of Doncaster in 2002 and successfully defended his position in 2005.

Martin Winter was a professional Rugby League player. The son of a second hand car salesman. He went on to win election to Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and quickly became leader of the Labour administration.

Doncaster became one of the first authorities to adopt the new system for directly elected mayors. In this position, he appoints his own cabinet from among the Councillors, and continues to hold executive power even though Labour no longer has a majority on the Council.

Doncaster Council had an infamous reputation for corruption throughout the period that became known as "Donnygate". The idea of switching to an elected mayoral system was partly to draw a line under that and find a new way of governance. However, problems have continued, including refusal to give a full disclosure of all the facts about "Donnygate".

Doncaster has gone through a period of rapid development and success in which Mayor Winter has played a key role, but the Mayor has been a highly controversial figure, especially in facing four separate police investigations. He has also been subject to eleven investigations by the Standards Board for England, a statutory body which deals with local government representatives behaviour and conduct. All the enquiries have cleared Mayor Winter with virtually no action being taken against him. The one exception consisted of him having to pay back 47p in postage to the Council when it was found that an envelope was posted in error for Party political purposes and the Council's services should not have been used.

The mayor has been criticised several times in the satirical magazine Private Eye for supposed hypocrisy. In one alleged case he took his children out of school during term time to take them to the Glastonbury Music Festival despite announcing measures to curb unauthorised school absences with fines and possible legal proceedings.

Martin Winter won re-election in 2005 on the day of the General Election against a split opposition.

A campaign to call for a referendum on abolishing the position of mayor was stalled. In March 2007, the Doncaster "Fair Deal" campaigners presented a petition with 11,000 signatures to the council calling for a new referendum to be held. The full council voted 31-27 in favour of a new referendum. However, there has been no progress on this.

Following the local elections of May 2008, Martin Winter declared that he would govern as an independent mayor, with the support of two of his cabinet members. The Labour party gave him an ultimatum to back down. The situation then became further confused as he signalled his intention to remain in the Labour Party, but not in its Council group. At the same time, the Council was faced with two reports from government inspectors, accusing it of serious failures.

On 29 May 2008, Martin Winter and one other councillor was expelled from the Labour Party. Only the leader of the three-member Community Group and one Liberal Democrat, who was suspended from that party, joined his new cabinet. The members of Doncaster Council supported a motion of no confidence in Mayor Winter on 14 July 2008 by 42 votes to 8 with 7 abstentions. However, Mayor Winter has refused to resign and pledged to see out his term of office.

Further calls for Winter's resignation followed in January 2009 after the Authority was deemed to be seriously failing in its delivery of social services following the deaths of seven children that were on the local "At Risk" register. The Social Services Department had been understaffed and overextended for some time, and several leading officers had resigned. Winter has again refused to resign following the loss of another "no-confidence" motion.

External links

• Official profile on council website
• Councillors back referendum on mayoral system
• Labour announce new candidate to contest mayoral election in 2009 after the departure of Mayor Winter